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Behemoth (novel)
Behemoth is a steampunk novel written by Scott Westerfeld and illustrated by Keith Thompson, and the second book in the Leviathan trilogy. This novel is the sequel to Leviathan and followed by Goliath. It was released on October 5, 2010. Behemoth ''continues the story in ''Leviathan, as Alek and Deryn travel to the Ottoman Empire city of Istanbul. There, they become involved in a revolution to overthrow the Sultan. Summary The novel begins with Alek teaching Deryn how to fence on the spine of the Leviathan. However, their lesson is interupted by the attack of two German ironclads, the Goeben ''and the ''Breslau. However, when Alek and Klopp take action without orders when they discover that the Goeben carries a Tesla cannon, Alek is injured when Mr. Hirst shoots him with an air gun, although they manage to save the Leviathan. Also, during the battle, Deryn saves Newkirk from a burning Huxley. After the battle, Alek and his men are put under guard. When Dr. Barlow and Deryn visit Alek, Deryn finds herself delivering a secret message to Count Volger, who confronts Deryn about her trustworthiness. He is upset when he learns that Alek shared the secret of his past with Deryn in Leviathan. Volger also feels that Alek should try to escape when the Leviathan reaches Istanbul. While skulking about the airship on Volger's suggestion, Alek runs into Deryn in the lizard room. Deryn tells Alek the story of her father's death, and they say their goodbyes. Alek flees the ship the next night, soon after one of Dr. Barlow's mysterious eggs hatches and Bovril emerges. Bovril becomes attached to Alek and leaves with him. However, as Alek and his men are escaping, they are discovered and Volger and Hoffman must stay behind, while Klopp and Bauer escape with Alek into the city of Istanbul. The next day, the ship arrives at Istanbul. Dr. Barlow, Deryn and Newkirk meet with British officials in Istanbul on board the Dauntless, an elephant-shaped walker. Also on board the Dauntless is Eddie Malone, an American news reporter for the New York World. When German saboteuers attack the Dauntless, Deryn manages to stop them by throwing spice from a street vendor's stall into their faces (upon Dr. Barlow's suggestion). Malone photographs Deryn's rescue of the walker. Dr. Barlow and Deryn also ride on the Sultan's airyacht, the Stamboul, although Deryn has been nervous of Clanker airships since her father's death. They are introduced to the Kizlar Agha and visit the Sultan in his palace. The Sultan has an enormous automaton built and controlled by German engineers, which follows his every move. However, when Dr. Barlow offers her gift of one of the loris eggs, the Sultan's automaton crushes the egg. Deryn points out to Dr. Barlow, though, that it could have been the controllers who destroyed the egg, and not the Sultan. Meanwhile, Alek decides to stay in Istanbul instead of fleeing into the countryside as Volger suggested. He takes .]]up residence the Hotel Hagia Sophia, but is soon discovered by German agents. Alek is rescued by Zaven while he and Bauer and trying to escape, and Alek falls in with Zaven's revolutionary group, the Committee for Union and Progress. Feeling that it is his destiny to end the war, Alek hopes that a revolution in Istanbul will bring about peace. Zaven introduces Alek to his mother, Nene and daughter, Lilit, who initially do not trust him until Bovril convinces them. Lilit teaches Alek how to drive Ottoman walkers, such as Şahmaran. Alek also meets Eddie Malone, and asks him to bring a message to Volger on the Leviathan. When Malone delivers Alek's message to Volger, Deryn hears it, and Volger guesses that she is a girl from her reaction. Soon afterward, Deryn recieves a medal for bravery for rescuing Newkirk. She is also given a secret assignment, to take a group of soldiers to sabatoge the Ottoman underwater defences with fabricated vitriolic barnacles. Deryn succeeds in her mission, but her men are all killed or captured. Knowing that Alek is in Istanbul, Deryn decides to find him and help him instead of returning to her ship. At the Istanbul library, she discovers that Alek's mother was named Sophie, and uses this information to find his hotel. When Deryn finds Alek at his hotel, she is initially jealous of Lilit, thinking that Lilit and Alek are a couple. However, she still helps the Committee with their revolutionary plans, suggesting spice bombs as a form of attack. Alek gives the Committee most of his gold to finance this plan, as the spices are expensive. Deryn manages to arrange that the revolution will occur on the night the Leviathan will attack Istanbul, which will make both attacks more likely to succeed. After Alek accidentally leaves his papal scroll in his hotel room, he, Deryn and Lilit return at night to find it. While in Alek's old hotel room, Alek confesses to Deryn that he is really heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. Deryn almost admits her secret to Alek, but stops when she realizes that Alek will never be able to love her back as the emperor of Austria-Hungary. Alek also tells Deryn that Lilit has a crush on her, which surprises Deryn, as she had thought that Lilit liked Alek. However, Eddie Malone has also discovered that Alek and Deryn are in Istanbul. In order to prevent Malone from giving away information about the revolution's plans, Alek gives Malone an exclusive interview. Although Alek knows that this will make it harder for him to hide, he feels that the revolution is more important. Also, from Malone, Alek, Deryn and Lilit discover that there is a Tesla cannon in Istanbul that is capable of destroying the Leviathan when it arrives, and they realize that for the revolution to succeed they will have to bring down the cannon themselves. On the night of the revolution, Alek, Deryn, Lilit, Zaven, Klopp and Bauer take four walkers to attack the Tesla cannon. They are met by a group of Ottoman elephant walkers, which they bring down with spice bombs, thrown by the arms of their walkers. Lilit's walker and Alek and Deryn's walker are crashed, and Klopp and Bauer's walker is hit by the arm of the Orient Express train. However, the Tesla cannon is still charged for firing. While Alek and Deryn take over the Orient Express to try to bring down the Tesla cannon, Zaven pulls it down with ship]]Şahmaran, and is killed by the electricity that streams through his walker. Alek and Deryn find Lilit after the battle, and she tells them goodbye, kissing Deryn and calling her, "the bravest boy I've ever met." Then she flies away on mechanical wings to meet her uncle's boat, to assist Nene in leading the revolution. The behemoth destroys the Goeben ''and the ''Breslau in the strait, following the Leviathan as it attacks. In Klopp and Bauer's walker, Alek and Deryn find them both unconcious. Bauer wakes up easily but Klopp seems to be badly injured. Bauer offers to stay with Klopp, and let Alek and Deryn escape, but Deryn wants to try to signal the Leviathan, safely passing over Istanbul after the destruction of the Tesla cannon. Using the arms of Klopp and Bauer's damaged walker, Deryn and Bovril use semaphore code to contact the Leviathan, sending the message, "S-H-A-R-P." Alek asks Deryn to come with him when he goes into hiding, but Deryn says that she cannot abandon her duty. She convinces Alek to come back on board the ship with her, saying that they belong together. Back on board the ship, Deryn learns that the revolution was sucessful, especially since the Kizlar Agha took the Sultan away on his airyacht, preventing further bloodshed. In his stateroom, Volger shows Alek Malone's newspaper article and expresses his disappointment in some of Alek's behavior in Istanbul. However, he also thanks Alek for saving his life. The novel ends with the news that the Leviathan is now headed east, to Japan. Category:Books Category:Real world